Solar doubles at Virginia schools over two years

SOLAR: The use of power purchase agreements has enabled Virginia’s K-12 schools to double their solar capacity over the last two years, a new report says. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

ALSO: A Virginia town council votes to table changes to plans to promote residential and utility-scale solar after residents complain they’d disrupt wildlife and the town’s character. (Gazette-Virginian)

GRID:
• Louisiana regulators finally approve $39 million for a New Orleans power plant after previously blocking it because city officials said they would not enforce the state’s abortion ban. (NOLA.com)
• Florida Power & Light warns state residents they may see its technicians using drones to inspect power lines before and after severe weather. (Boca Beacon)

COAL:
• Alabama coal miners have been on strike for 18 months in a grinding impasse over wages and benefits that points to wider struggles in a coal industry squeezed by energy trends and the fight against climate change. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Exhibitors at a central Appalachian coal trade show say business is booming but they can’t keep up with demand amid supply chain backups. (Bluefield Daily-Telegraph)

CLIMATE:
• The closure of a Tennessee pediatric clinic for 10 days this summer after air conditioning broke down during a heatwave illustrates just one way climate change threatens health care. (Associated Press)
• Scientists warn rising seas may put 60% of a metro Florida county underwater by 2060. (CBS News)

OIL & GAS: A Maryland energy company announces it will build a natural gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. (WOWK)

EMISSIONS: A Louisiana judge’s rejection of an air pollution permit for a plastics plant marks a win for environmental justice advocates, but the plant’s fate and its impact on state pollution regulations remain unclear. (The Advocate)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A clean transportation advocate discusses the state of Florida’s electric vehicle market and what must be done to nudge it along. (Tampa Bay Times)
• A Virginia school system receives its first two electric buses. (Amherst New Era-Progress)
• Texas prepares to seek businesses to help build out its electric vehicle charging network. (Waco Tribune-Herald)

RENEWABLES: The economic benefits of clean energy are besting ideology in places like Florida, Oklahoma and Texas even as climate change worsens and costs lives around the world. (Time)

POLITICS:
• Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says proposed congressional action on the Mountain Valley Pipeline unfairly swoops in on a complicated political battle and is derailing energy permitting reform. (E&E News)
• Two North Carolina Congress members are among the more than 70 Democrats expressing opposition to a legislation to ease permitting for major energy projects and complete the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Winston-Salem Journal)

COMMENTARY: A Virginia editor unpacks how wind and solar’s growth is boosting demand for Appalachian metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel. (Cardinal News)